An analysis of forest recreation in Wallonia has been carried out. The originality of the approach resides mainly in the fact that a regional scale was used. The precise meaning of “forest recreation” was ... [more ▼]

An analysis of forest recreation in Wallonia has been carried out. The originality of the approach resides mainly in the fact that a regional scale was used. The precise meaning of “forest recreation” was clarified by limiting it to the non benefit services. The analysis of the public demand was performed by means of three main surveys: a phone survey based on a sample of the Walloon and Brussels population, a survey within 40 woodlands (during 6 periods) and, finally, a survey conducted among managers of Forest Service districts in order to map the visitation level of all Walloon woodlands. Data concerning the recreational supply of the Walloon forest have been gathered as well. These data concerning supply and demand were used to create a model capable of forecasting the number of visits for the whole Walloon forest according to local population, one day tourists and holidaymakers. An economic assessment of these visits and the whole recreational function of the Walloon forest was made by adapting two methods (travel costs and the contingent valuation method) to the Walloon regional context and to the available data. All these investigations provided the quantification of the importance of the recreational function at a regional level as well as highlighting local variations. Recommendations related to the taking into account of forest recreation in forest policy, both at the regional level and at the local level were therefore proposed. [less ▲]

The Walloon forest taken as a whole can be regarded as typical of a rural area, although its proximity to densely populated areas gives it a peri-urban character. It is visited by the local population as ... [more ▼]

The Walloon forest taken as a whole can be regarded as typical of a rural area, although its proximity to densely populated areas gives it a peri-urban character. It is visited by the local population as well as by tourists (including from neighboring countries). To provide spatial information on the level of Wallonia woodland visitation, a survey was conducted among managers of Forest Service districts (also called ‘‘cantonnements’’). The aim was to map the woodlands to show spatial patterns of visitation levels, and analyze them qualitatively to determine the influence factors. This map identifies regional hubs of recreation woodlands and, conversely, areas where the recreational function is much less important. The level of visitation was scaled in four levels ranging from low to very high. The mapping was supplemented with a statistical analysis of data collected from the forest managers and also from different GIS-layers (slope, hydrology, land use, etc.). An equation using the level of visitation as a dependent variable was fitted to a set of characteristics of the woodland with an ordered Logit model. The results show that type of ownership, type of forest, and recreational facilities significantly influence the level of woodland visitation. They also show that woodland visitors prefer any type of forest to mainly coniferous woodland. These results and the analysis of the map are particularly useful for developing forest policy and tourism as well as managing the forest. [less ▲]

in Raschi, A.; Trampetti, S. (Eds.) Management for protection and sustainable development (2008)

The Walloon forests are visited by local people and tourists but the importance of forest recreation is very different from one part of the Region to another. As it was particularly difficult to obtain ... [more ▼]

The Walloon forests are visited by local people and tourists but the importance of forest recreation is very different from one part of the Region to another. As it was particularly difficult to obtain quantified information by counting, a model has been built by GIS and taking results from different surveys (telephone survey and face-to-face interviews) into account. This model makes the distinction between local visitors and one-day tourists coming from the neighbouring regions (in a buffer zone of 50 km). A decay curve based on travel time is used for predicting the number of visits throughout all Walloon forests from each departure point. An attraction function is added to the model to attribute each visit to a woodland and different scenarios have been tested to obtain a distribution of people by regions of provenance as similar as the results of surveys. At a regional level, this model is a good alternative to counting and gives a good overview of the forests for which recreation activities are more relevant and have to be taken into account in forest management plans. [less ▲]

Most of the private forest owners don’t use a management plan especially in the case of woodlands scaterred in small compartments. Furthermore they generally miss documents compiling updated descriptive ... [more ▼]

Most of the private forest owners don’t use a management plan especially in the case of woodlands scaterred in small compartments. Furthermore they generally miss documents compiling updated descriptive information dealing with administrative data, stand and structure composition, ownership location, planning and control of silvicultural operations. A similar situation is observed as concerns maps and cartographic elements. The main objective of this paper is to present a simple information system based upon data easy to collect and suitable for a great number of forest properties whatever their sizes are. Informations from the forest are collected at the compartment’s level (planning unit defined by permanent boundaries) and are registered in a computerized data base so that any owner can make continuing use of information such as various repartitions (areas and species by age, by structure,..), digitized thematic maps (stand, soil, silvicultural operations,..). Such a system provided in option can be considered as a pragmatic decision support whose one of the main objectives is to assure the follow-up of compartments years after years. To support it, the setting up of a structure at a regional level should be very useful to the forest managers and also a way to better assist the private forest ownership in the frame of a regional forest policy taking attention to the general recommendations of sustainable management. [less ▲]